Washington’s middle housing law has been on the books since 2023. Most planners in the state know the headline: cities must allow duplexes, triplexes, and other “missing middle” housing types in residential zones that were previously single-family only. What’s less clear, and what’s generating a lot of the real work right now, is the parcel-level question underneath that headline. Knowing your city is required to allow four units per lot doesn’t tell you which lots can actual

And why your city manager and community development director will thank you for it. Community Development Directors don't want to buy software. They want outcomes. Better permit applications, confident, capable, and productive staff, a department that feels responsive and serves their community well. Here's what actually changes when your city deploys UrbanForm. 1. Your staff spends less time on routine lookups. "What can I build on this property?" is one of the most common q

Small moves. Real results. Launching a new public-facing tool is only half the work. The other half is making sure residents can find it. Three Oregon cities have done that especially well with UrbanForm and the approaches they took are worth sharing, because they're simple, replicable, and they work. Boardman: Give It Its Own Home The City of Boardman created a dedicated UrbanForm page under City Administration - its own destination with a plain-language description, a dire

There is a version of a parcel inquiry that goes smoothly. Someone calls or walks in, the planner pulls up the zoning, answers the question, and the conversation ends in under ten minutes. That version exists, and it happens every day. But there is another version - the more common one - where zoning is only part of what someone needs to know. A developer wants to understand the history of a site before investing in due diligence. A contractor is trying to reconcile what the